New Staff Members
In this month’s edition of the Nura Gili News, we welcome three of Nura Gili’s newest
staff members, Dr. Virginia Watson, Erin Tsukamoto and Frances Zahra.
Erin Tsukamoto
Student Academic Support Officer
Dr. Virginia Watson
Academic Co-ordinator
Dr. Virginia Watson grew up in New Zealand,
where she initially gained an interest in
Indigenous Studies. During both Primary School
and High School, she had the opportunity to
learn some of the basics of Maori language and
embrace the local Maori culture.
in these courses. She also has responsibility
for the day to day administration of Indigenous
Studies – attending meetings, ensuring the
documentation for courses reflects Nura Gili and
UNSW objectives.
Although Virginia has only worked at Nura Gili
for a short period of time, she enjoys the
challenge of analysing the strengths of
courses, and the ways in which these can be
better developed to both appeal to students and
meet their needs for academic and
professional education. Virginia also finds her
tutorials to be one of the most rewarding
experiences of her job at UNSW. She believes
that Indigenous students can benefit from
enrolling in Indigenous Studies courses. The
content of the courses can help students
develop a critical body of knowledge that can
inform new understandings of both their own
individual and family biographies, as well as
the historical and contemporary experiences of
Indigenous people and the place of Indigenous
issues in this country.
Vir